The Federal Government says it has strategised to further reduce the occurrences of accidents on the roads across the country.
The Minister of Transportation, Alhaji Saidu Alkali, stated this when he received a committee to address critical road safety in the country on Thursday in Abuja.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the committee is made up of relevant stakeholders to develop mandatory training and certification programmes for trailer and tanker drivers.
Alkali, who was represented by Alhaji Musa Ibrahim, the Director overseeing the Office of the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, said realising the aim would improve safety and security to enhance the nation’s integrity.
He said that the ministry would promptly finance the committee`s projects to achieve the feat.
“The Government of President Bola Tinubu is a prudent government. The ministry is mindful of safe driving in Nigeria. Kindly continue doing your good work and upholding your committee’s mandate.
“The ministry is determined to support you in order to ensure that our roads are free of any form of accident nationwide, “ he said.
Earlier, Mr Jide Owatunmise, who spoke on behalf of the committee, commended the minister for setting up the committee to tackle road safety challenges, particularly in the haulage sector.
He explained that the setting up of the committee was a directive from the National Assembly.
“You (Minister) set up this committee and notified us that the directive was from NASS.
“The project of retraining the drivers of fuel tankers and other articulated vehicles should be embarked upon within the time frame of six months.
“In line with this, you gave us one week to come up with workshop plans of action“ he said.
According to him, the committee swung into action and met severally to draft and fine-tune the plans of action, and the report was submitted to the minister waiting for approval and funding for implementation .
Owatunmise added that the driver retraining project had become more urgent and important now than the time the NASS gave the directive.
He said the implementation of the project would drastically reduce and eventually eliminate the crashes that had led to the loss of many lives and valuable properties..
“We believe that the success of the retraining and recertification of the drivers will further boost the Performance Management Score (PMS) of the minister and the ministry.
“We are here to humbly plead with you to use your good office to source funds for the implementation of the drivers re-training and recertification programme as directed by NASS,“ he said
PUNCH.
